Dentiphone



Oct. 30 1923.

Filed Aug. 16 1921 Fig. 1.

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WITNESSES INVENTOR' f J. W Go/vcE ATTORNEYS Patented Oct. 30, 1923.-

UNITED STATES JOHN WISDOM GONCE, OF ANDERSON, TENNESSEE;

DENTIPHONE.

Application filed August 16, 1921.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN WISDOM GONGE, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Anderson, in the county of Franklin and State ofTennessee, have invented a new and Improved Dentiphone, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description.

The present invention relates to new and useful improvements in acousticdevices, and it pertains more particularly to a device especiallyadapted for use by persons with defective hearing in order that they maymore clearly hear conversation or music which has been previouslyrecorded on a suitable recording device such as a talking machinerecord.

It is one of the primary objects of the present invention to providemeans adapted -to be held between the teeth of a person whose hearing isdefective, one end of the device being adapted to contact with a talkingmachine record in order that the vibrations set up thereby ma betransferred to the teeth and bones of t e head to promote hearing.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a device of thischaracter which is capable of use in connection with talking machinerecords of various types.

With the above and other objects in view, reference is had to theaccompanying drawings, in which- Fi of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a view in elevation of a modified form of the invention;

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the form shown in Fig. 3.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the device comprises a mainbody portion 5, and one end of said body portion is tapered into a thinweb portion and provided with an enlarged portion 6 forming a headadapted to be held between the teeth of the user. The opposite end ofthe body portion 5 is more sharply tapered as indicated by the referencecharacter 7 and terminates in a thin web portion 8, upon the end ofwhich is provided an enlarged head 9.v This enlarged head 9 is formedwith a suitable passage for retaining a stylus or needle 10, as shown inFig. 2.

' In use, the head portion 6 of the body portion 5 is adapted to beplaced between the gure 1 is a view in elevation of one form- Serial 1).492,776.

teeth of the user with the u per set of teeth projecting slightly forwarly with respect to the lower set of teeth in order that a desired amountof tension may be applied to the device.

This form of the invention is particularly adapted for use with recordsof the cylindrical type in which the sound groove is of thehill-and-dale form, but may be used also on records of the disk type.

After the operator has grasped the head 6 between his teeth, the stylus10 is placed in the sound groove of the record and as the record rotatesthe vibrations set up in the stylus will be transmitted through the bodyportion 5 through the teeth of the user, and will thus transmit all ofthe tones and sounds to the user in a clearly understandable manner.

In the form of the invention shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the thin webportion 8' is of greater length than the smaller ortion 8 in the formshown in Figs. 1 an 2. The form shown in Figs. 3 and 4 is particularlyadapted for use in connection with records of the disk type, andconnected to the head portion 9', as at 15, is aflexible device, such asa string or wire 16. The other end of the string or wire is connected tothe body portion 5' of the device.

By this construction the web portion 8 is maintained in a curvedposition as shown in order that the stylus 10' may travel upon the fiatrecord 20. This form of the invention is used in a similar manner tothat shown in Figs. 1 and 2, i. e., the mouthpiece 6' being placedbetween the teeth of the user and the stylus 10' engaged with the soundgroove of the record.

The device is constructed from any suitable resonant material, such assteel, hard rubber, or any one of various varieties of wood, orcombination of these materials.

While it is desirable to use a stylus or needle ofmetal, favorableresults have been obtained when these styli were made of other material,such, for example, as hard wood.

From the foregoing it is apparent that the present invention provides adevice which will permit persons with defective hearing enjoying thepleasures afforded by the use'of phonographs and the like.

It is furthermore apparent that when the stylus of a device constructedin accordance with the present invention is caused to 01- low] thestylus of a recording instrument at the time of making a record, atranscribing of the record maybe had almost simultaneously withits'in'aking, and such a contrivanc'e'is especially adaptable for use bypersons whose hearing is. defective, in lecture halls and similar placesin order that they may be able to follow the speaker and have knowledgeof his remarks.

I do not wish to confine myself to the form or cross section of myinstrument as here shown, except that there should be a head for holdingthe stylus atone end, a suitable mouth-piece preferably of wood at theother end, and a thin flexible portion near eacln end. I find that thethin portion next to head of st lus helps it follow the groove of therecordz 'while the thin portion next to the mouth-piece prevents thevibrations from jarring the teeth. Between these thin portions theinstrument may possess any suitable form or cross section. v

I claim:

1. A device of the character described comprising a relatively thickmain body portion, the ends of which are tapered in opposite directionsto provide relatively thin end portions, an enlarged head formed on eachof the end portions, one of said h'eads adapted to carry a stylus,substantially as described.

2. A device of the character described comprising a main body portionhaving tapered ends, a stylus-carrying head formed on one of said ends,and means for flexing the end provided with the stylus-carrying head forpositioning the stylus-carrying head angularly with respect to the mainbody portion.

A device of the character described comprising a resilient body portionof varying cross section, and means on one end of the body portion forcarrying a stylus.

JOHN WISDOM GONCE.

